Escort Passport 8500... anybody have one?

[Urinal Mint]

Mainly, has anybody had one for longer than 2 weeks and can give me some idea how well theirs has worked for them? I just got mine today and plugged it in for a quick spin around the area... picked up a few X hits and one on Ka, but nothing else really. I guess that's good in that there aren't any patrols out.

 

[Black88GTA]

I've had one for a while now. It's awesome. If you mount it right, it'll pick up the cops way before you even get to them. X hits are almost always automatic doors, K hits sometimes are doors, sometimes cops, and KA hits are almost always cops.

One more thing...for some reason, whenever I'm at a stoplight behind a Chevy Trailblazer, I get a laser hit. 😕 It happens all the time, and bugs me. Only with Trailblazers though, nothing else seems to set it off.

 

[Freejack2]

Don't know if 17 days counts but I've driven probably 1600+ miles in that time. I've at this time set the city mode to no x-band. Too many false alerts and the cops in this area don't use x-band anymore.
It's saved my arse a few times already. I was driving the interstate type part of Route 8 in Connecticut and they had 2 troopers sitting just over hills about 2 or 3 miles apart. Had plenty of advance notice for both of them.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA
I've had one for a while now. It's awesome. If you mount it right, it'll pick up the cops way before you even get to them. X hits are almost always automatic doors, K hits sometimes are doors, sometimes cops, and KA hits are almost always cops.

One more thing...for some reason, whenever I'm at a stoplight behind a Chevy Trailblazer, I get a laser hit. 😕 It happens all the time, and bugs me. Only with Trailblazers though, nothing else seems to set it off.

Prolly one of those new systems that checks for people and objects behind the vehicle in the blind spot. Basically so you don't back out over your kid...heh. Prolly activates when the vehicle is running and not moving.

Just a guess...

One more thing...Bel985 > 8500 😛

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

One more thing...Bel985 > 8500 😛

have you used them both? why do you keep saying that?? 😛

anyways, i bought a bel 985 recently. So far it's been good. I had a bel express 910 before and the biggest strength IMO is that the 985 almost never falses, especially true for Ka.

i am trying to decide whether to keep this one, or to get an escort 8500

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: Black88GTA
I've had one for a while now. It's awesome. If you mount it right, it'll pick up the cops way before you even get to them. X hits are almost always automatic doors, K hits sometimes are doors, sometimes cops, and KA hits are almost always cops.

One more thing...for some reason, whenever I'm at a stoplight behind a Chevy Trailblazer, I get a laser hit. 😕 It happens all the time, and bugs me. Only with Trailblazers though, nothing else seems to set it off.

Prolly one of those new systems that checks for people and objects behind the vehicle in the blind spot. Basically so you don't back out over your kid...heh. Prolly activates when the vehicle is running and not moving.

Just a guess...

One more thing...Bel985 > 8500 😛

That's what I was thinking too. My other theory - I've noticed that those trucks seem to have a really deep red color to the taillights. Maybe the color/intensity is a near duplicate of that emitted by a red laser, and that does it.

What's weird is that other cars with that "parking assist" feature don't set it off. Caddy sedans, Escalades, etc.

About the Bel 985, I've never used one. I do know it's a newer model than the 8500, though. The biggest competition to the 8500 when it came out was the Bel 980 and the V1, and it was pretty widely accepted at the time that the 8500 beat out the 980. As to the 8500 or V1 being better, that depended on who you talked to (most would say the V1).

I do know that Bel makes very good quality products - I still have a Radio Shack detector that's a rebadged Bel 635i (about 1993-94 vintage) that works great. Falses all over the place, and the range isn't very good (why I replaced it), but it was the best money could buy 10-11 years ago.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I just clicked on this thread because the OP has the best handle ever. :beer:😀

- M4H